1

Experiment Design
 2
Experiment design
• Independent Variables (IV)
– Anything that experimenters want to
manipulate
• Dependent Variables (DV)
– Anything that experimenters want to measure
– The variable affected by IV
 3
Examples
• Find IV and DV in the following examples
– Researchers want to find whether aggressive
behaviors are caused by genetics or by
environment.

– Doctors want to know whether SSRIs have a

better effect than placebos in the treatment of
adolescent depression.
 4
Experiment design
• IV
– Experiment Group vs Control Group
– Why do we need control group?
• Control any unwanted factors.
– e.g. SSRIs and Placebo
 5
Experiment Design
• IV
– Longitudinal vs cross sectional
 6
Experimental design
• Longitudinal: researchers follow a group of
children over time, testing them at different
ages.
– Pros: how individuals change over time
– Cons:
• A long time to carry out
• High drop-out rate
• Bias sample
 7
Experimental design
• Cross-sectional: Different children at
different ages are tested at the same time
and are compared.
– Pros: faster and easier
– Cons:
• Greater individual difference
• Cohort effects
– Vocabulary score comparison for 18 month olds vs 36
month olds
» Early nursery education for 18 month olds
 8
Experiment Design
• IV
– Monozygotic twins (MZ) vs Dizygotic twins (DZ)
 9
Experiment Design
• Procedure of the twin study
– Measure the correlation of a phenotype of MZ
twins and the correlation between DZ twins
– Using the mathematical modeling, decompose
the causes of the phenotype into
• genetic component
• shared environment component
• non-shared environment component.
 10
Experiment Design
• Correlation study
• Twin study: Compare MZ and DZ twins
• Shared Env.
– Family
100% genes (A) – Common friends
– Common activities
• Non-shared Env.
Shared Env. (C)
– Unique friend
– Parent’s different expectations
Non-shared Env. (E)
– Attending different classes
 11
Experiment Design
• Correlation study
• Twin study: Compare MZ and DZ twins

100% genes (A) 50% genes (A)

Shared Env. (C) Shared Env. (C)

Non-shared Env. (E) Non-shared Env. (E)

 12
Gene and Environment
• Example: researchers want to find whether
aggressive behaviours are caused by
genetics or by environment.
 13
Experiment Design
• Measure problem behavior index
• correlation for MZ(0.8) and DZ (0.5)

A+C = 0.8
Non-Shared Env.
0.5*A+C =0.5
Gene+Shared Env.
Solve the equation
A = 2* (0.8-0.5) = 0.6
50%Gene C = 0.8-0.6 = 0.2
+Shared
Env.
E = 1-0.8 =0.2
 14
Experiment Design
• About 60% of the
variation in the
problem behavior (in
this population) is due
Non-Shared Env. to genetic variation

Gene+Shared Env. • This does not mean

that the problem
50%Gene behavior (for an
+Shared individual) is” 60%
Env. nature 40% nurture”
 15
Interim Summary
• IV and DV
• Longitudinal vs cross sectional
• MZ vs DZ
• How to calculate A, C, E from the
correlation study.
 16
Thank you